Women group awards scholarships to 75 girls in Edo

The Association Against Women Export, AAWE, has awarded scholarships to no fewer than 75 girls in Edo State over the last 10 years as part of its effort to banish exploitation of women and trafficking in human.Besides, the non-governmental organisation has given out awards to 35 well behaved female secondary school students in the state to mark its 120th anniversary.

To each award is attached N5,000 cash, a certificate, a plaque a wider tape entitled Ebuwa.

Meanwhile, the association has appealed to the Benin monarch, Oba Erediuwa, to place a curse on those involved in human trafficking in the state, saying that the effects of human trafficking in the state are worse than kidnapping.

The President of the organization, Mrs Rosaline Okosun, who stated this yesterday in Benin, on the celebration of the ten years anniversary of the group, expressed worries over the number of Edo state girls languishing in Libya and Italy, saying that serious steps need to be taken to check the activities of he perpetrators.

She said the association would be sending a delegation to Italy in February to bring back the girls stranded in hospitals and different areas in that country, saying, “the moral values are what we are talking about, that is what we need to bring back to our society. Without that, no matter what we try to do, people will want to go to Europe . You can work harder and get happier back home rather than selling yourself. Some of these young girls do not know what they will face when they get there.

“Parents should also not be putting pressure on their children to go abroad to bring back money. Can you imagine a ten year old or eleven year old girl sleeping with a man as old as her grand father or the father?

“It is painful when you hear the stories of these girls and that is the anger in me and other women that we said we must open this NGO.”